Survey: young people overwhelmingly in favor of biometric security

A survey by Visa Europe has found that the majority of those aged 16 to 24 would feel extremely comfortable with biometric security measures.

A survey by Visa Europe has found that the majority of those aged 16 to 24 would feel comfortable with biometric security replacing the traditional password for their day to day security, Computer Business Review reports.

The research, which surveyed more than 2,000 young people, discovered that 76 percent felt comfortable making payments using biometric security measures including facial recognition, fingerprint and retina scans. 69 percent felt that replacing the password with these measures would make their lives easier and faster.

Of the biometric options available, the survey discovered the most support for fingerprint scanning, with 70 percent favoring this method, possibly influenced by the adoption of the technology in high-end smartphones such as the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5.

The survey also found out that younger adults appear less security conscious than their elders, with 34 percent of respondents admitting to having shared their debit or credit card PIN, 32 percent their smartphone password and 22 percent their internet password.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Visa Europe executive director Jonathan Vaux said, “We have more logins and passwords than ever to help keep us secure online and on the high street, but for Gen Z it just feels like an unnecessary burden.”

“Biometric authentication using fingerprint recognition or retinal scans offers an ideal solution, combining unique security and ease of use. As products come online with these features integrated, we expect to see multiple passwords as the industry standard begin to decline.”

Tech Week Europe reports that in all, over half of those surveyed believed that passwords and PIN codes would be made redundant before the decade is out.